


It Can Never Just Be a Normal Hunting Trip, Can It?

by Yarniac



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon Era, Crack-ish, Everyone Is Alive, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, F/M, Fluff, Freya Revealed (Merlin), Married Merlin (Merlin), Merlin finally getting the ending he deserves, Parent Merlin (Merlin), Pregnancy, Romance, Self-Indulgent, freya and merlin are secretly married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:01:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24431758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yarniac/pseuds/Yarniac
Summary: “Merlin," Leon said carefully, “Are you.. Married?"“..No?” Merlin tried after a few beats, but it came out as more of a question.The knights find out that Merlin has been keeping a secret from them.
Relationships: Freya/Merlin (Merlin), Knights & Merlin (Merlin)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 337





	It Can Never Just Be a Normal Hunting Trip, Can It?

They were on a hunting trip. It was the usual group. It had been a tiring day and they were sitting around the campfire trading stories and jests.

Gwaine, in usual Gwaine fashion, is telling a story of how he fought off ten men single-handedly.

“If that is true I will eat my own boot," Elyan says with feeling. “Oi,” was Gwaine’s intelligent response.

It developed, as it usually did with the knights, into a sparring match. 

Merlin sighed as he continued with the stew he was making. He zoned out for a while as he cooked not really listening to the conversation. That is until he hears his name.

“Isn’t that right, Merlin?," Gwaine was saying.

“Isn’t what right?,” Merlin asked.

“That Arthur should give you chainmail.”. Now Merlin was just confused.

“Chainmail? What for?,” he asked, brow furrowed.

“To protect you,” Merlin could hear the unsaid _duh_ in Gwaine's tone.

“I don’t need protecting,” Merlin said, feeling a little indignant.

“Oh, don’t give me that look” Gwaine said, “I’m just saying. You have way too many self sacrificing tendencies. Just last week you got in front of a dagger aimed at the princess.”

There was a half-hearted “Hey, I’m your king," somewhere to the left. As if they needed a reminder.

“Oh, don’t you start," Merlin sighed, rolling his eyes, “Honestly it wasn’t even that bad and it only grazed my arm. Stop nagging me, honestly, you’re worse than my wife." He then rolled his eyes again, for good measure, just in case they didn’t get the message.

Everyone stopped their side conversations to stare at Merlin after a few seconds, as the words he had just said caught up to them.

Merlin didn’t notice for a minute, having gone back to the stew making. When he looked up and noticed them, he started.

There was a second where they just looked at each other and then the knights blinked.

It was kind of creepy if you asked Merlin, as they seem to all have blinked as one.

"Um,” Merlin said intelligibly and then tried to remember what he’d just said. His eyes went wide and he cursed under his breath. He turned back to face the knights and tried to look innocent.

“What did you just say," Percival stuttered in a slightly higher voice than normal.

“Um," Merlin repeated, frantically trying to think of a way out of the situation.

“Merlin," Leon said carefully, “Are you.. Married?”

“..No?” Merlin tried after a few beats, but it came out as more of a question.

Elyan gasped, “Oh gods, you are!” he accused. Merlin was starting to realise that he had no way out of this.

“So," Arthur said after a few minutes of processing, “You”, he jabbed a finger in Merlin’s direction, “have a wife."

Merlin shrank back on the log he was sitting on.

“Maybe?" he said, and then shrank back some more as Arthur goggled at him incredulously. “You?”.

Merlin rolled his eyes. “Yes, me”. Lancelot snorted. Merlin looked up to find him looking over the scene with amusement.

“Oh shut up, Lance,” Merlin sighed.

“I thought you’d have at least told Gwaine," Lancelot said and Merlin glared at him. Lancelot just looked more amused.

The knights were staring at Lancelot now.

“You knew?," Gwaine asked. He still looked slightly shell shocked.

Lancelot nodded in confirmation and then smirked.

 _Noble, my ass_ Merlin thought as he glared at Lancelot once more.

“Stew is ready," Merlin said loudly, trying to change the subject. It seemed that the knights still had to process the new information and the rest of the night was spent with stilted conversation and shocked silence.

The next morning was full of constant questions from the knights. Eventually, Merlin got sick of them. “Honestly," he huffed, “you can ask her when you meet her. She’s coming to Camelot this week anyway.”

The knights did that in sync blink again, and Merlin shuddered.

* * *

Later that week, after a round table meeting had just finished, Merlin walked in with a beautiful girl, her arm looped through his.

“Everyone," he announced, “This is Freya. My wife."

Freya waved awkwardly. “Erm, hi," she muttered, blushing and clung to Merlin a little tighter.

Merlin extracted his arm from hers, put it neatly around her waist and squeezed, trying for reassurance.

“I’m so sorry that we haven’t met before,” Freya started, flustered, “it’s just that it wasn’t safe for me here, what with the ban on magic. I’m a druid you see. It’s not that I don’t like you or anything, Merlin always spoke highly. I wanted to come, honest, but it was still kind of scary even when you lifted the ban, you know? Thanks for that by the way. Anyway I thought I might as well come back to live with Merlin properly. Especially with the baby, we wanted it to be delivered by Gaius and- Oh” She stumbled to a halt, “I’m rambling aren’t I? Sorry I ramble when I’m nervous, I-,"

This time it’s Merlin who cuts her off.

“Hey slow down, take a breath, love," he smiled at her. She looked up and found herself smiling back. Merlin squeezed her around the waist again and kissed her temple. She seemed to have calmed down.

“..The baby," Arthur said faintly and a bit belatedly. The knights all look down and collectively realise that Freya’s belly is very swollen. Even Freya agrees that the blink is a bit creepy.

Over the next month or two the knights get to know Freya.

The whole castle was a bit shocked to begin with when they learned that Merlin had been married in secret for years.

They all soon fell in love with the romance of the two sorcerers and how they had to keep it a secret. Even the bards took interest in the tale of how they fell in love and how Merlin slaved away in the night for his love trying to cure her curse.

Freya and Merlin of course, were very embarrassed by this.

They did appreciate the extra food and generosity they got though, especially since the baby was due any day. Since Guinevere lived in the castle now and Merlin needed more space, She offered them her old house to live in. Merlin had thanked her, and thanked her but the queen just waved him off and gave him the keys.

Morgana took to cooing over Freya whenever she saw her and whisking her away to talk about babies, and what a horror Arthur was as a child as well as gossip and other girly things.

Merlin was laying in bed with Freya in his arms and thinking about how lucky he was. He had supportive friends and a beautiful wife. He was in a golden kingdom where magic was free. He couldn’t think of anywhere else he’d rather be with his family. 

The next day, Freya’s water broke. After that, everything was a frenzy of nerves and rushing. Merlin held Freya’s hand all the way through the pain.

He would be lying if he said he wasn’t scared what with all the screaming. It was the best moment in his life when he heard his baby’s cry for the first time. 

Watching his wife and his new baby boy sleeping next to him, Merlin felt like the luckiest man in all of Albion.

**Author's Note:**

> This is just me being self-indulgent. I have a notebook filled with prompts that I randomly come up with but never write. I thought I might as well. I hope it's not too badly written.


End file.
